{"id":238,"date":"2026-04-24T11:52:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T11:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/needlecraft-this-hobby-has-a-long-history-as-a-subversive-form-of-protest\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T11:52:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T11:52:34","slug":"needlecraft-this-hobby-has-a-long-history-as-a-subversive-form-of-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/needlecraft-this-hobby-has-a-long-history-as-a-subversive-form-of-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Needlecraft: this hobby has a long history as a subversive form of protest"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/span> Fotopogledi\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To pass the time while filming, before her eyesight deteriorated, actor Judi Dench<\/a> could often be found sewing. The picture of submissive femininity, she sat bent over her needlework. The finished work however, which she gave as gifts, were actually expletive-filled insults worked in ornate embroidery.<\/p>\n

There has been a resurgence<\/a> of people taking up needlecrafts of all kinds in recent years, including knitting, crochet, embroidery and sewing, as a hobby. <\/p>\n

Much has been made of the mindful qualities<\/a> of needlework. As a stitcher myself, I know how much pleasure and relaxation can be gained from the flow of yarn and thread through needles. But beyond the mindful benefits of needlework, there is a long history of needlecraft as a form of expressive protest.<\/p>\n

\n

Hobbies can bring joy, wellbeing and focus to our busy lives, but so many of us don\u2019t have one. If you\u2019re ready to replace scrolling with stitching, or hustle with horticulture, The Hobby Starter Kit<\/a> (a new series from Quarter Life<\/a>) will help you get going.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

In December 2024, textile artist, Sue Spence posted a photograph on Facebook<\/a>. It showed the words \u201cMiddle class WOMAN of a certain age\u201d embroidered in rudimentary stitches onto a small piece of fabric. It was a response to comments made by former MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace<\/a>, who claimed<\/a> allegations of sexual misconduct<\/a> against him came from \u201ca handful of middle-class women of a certain age\u201d. She later turned the design into brooches reading: \u201cMiddle class WOMAN of a certain RAGE.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spence subverted Wallace\u2019s original insult so it instead became a celebration of her identity. In doing so, she was participating in a long tradition of subversive stitching. For hundreds of years, silenced women have turned to needlecraft to express taboo emotions and protest their position in the world.<\/p>\n

Her materials \u2013 needle and thread \u2013 are significant to her act of protest. Like the words being reclaimed, the medium she is using is also being reclaimed from its containment within the sphere of patriarchal domesticity as a submissive activity for genteel women.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Art historian Rozsika Parker\u2019s seminal book The Subversive Stitch<\/a> (2019) traces the history of women and needlework. In it, she identifies how from the 17th century, needlecraft \u2013 particularly the embroidering of samplers<\/a> \u2013 \u201chad been employed to inculcate obedience, submission, passivity and piety\u201d. Samplers were used to practise embroidery stitches and frequently involved the stitching of Bible passages and devotional images.<\/p>\n

Resisting patriarchy<\/h2>\n

By the 19th century domestic needlework was widely practised by middle- and upper-class women. It was understood as an activity that tied mothers and daughters to the service of home, husbands and fathers. This is illustrated in the character of Rose Pargiter in Virginia Woolf\u2019s novel The Years<\/a> (1937). <\/p>\n

\n \"Painting<\/a>
\n Sewing Fisherman\u2019s Wife by Anna Ancher (1890).<\/span>
\n Randers Museum of Art<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the opening of the novel, in the 1880s, Rose is a little girl. Rose\u2019s sewing \u2013 she is embroidering roses onto a boot bag for her father \u2013 solidifies her position as \u201ca good girl\u201d, performing submissive obedience to a patriarchal order. Rose is literally stitching the flowers with which she shares a name at the feet (or at least the footwear) of her father. When she refuses to finish her sewing, she also refuses to accept her position in the order of society.<\/p>\n

In The Subversive Stitch, Parker identifies more subtle ways in which women could subvert this dominant meaning of needlework. The bent head and quiet activity gave the appearance of passivity, allowing their resistance to hide in plain sight. <\/p>\n

The Changi Quilts<\/a> provide a good example of this from the 20th century. Changi, a prison in Singapore, was used by the Japanese army during the second world war to detain people from Allied countries on the island.<\/p>\n

Men and women prisoners were separated. Denied access to writing materials, they could not communicate with each other. The women prisoners were, however, allowed to sew. <\/p>\n

They set about making a series of patchwork quilts to be sent to the military hospital. Each woman made a square, including an embroidered picture and her signature. Once they were sent to the hospital, the male patients could read the quilts to get both a list of the women who had survived and some insight, through their artwork, of their feelings about internment. Preserved by the Red Cross Society, the quilts are a testament to the women\u2019s resistance.<\/p>\n

Olga Henderson talks about life as a child in a prisoner of war camp and the Changi Quilt.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A more overt challenge to the submissive meanings attached to women\u2019s needlework can be seen in the Suffragette banners<\/a> of the early 20th century. They were created by women who, like Rose Pargiter, would have been brought up with the obligation to be good girls through domestic stitching. Through the banners, they used their craft as a tool in their fight for the vote.<\/p>\n

Much contemporary textile work draws on this subversion of the historical consignment of needlework to patriarchal domesticity. The Craftivist Collective<\/a>, a global movement founded by Sarah P. Corbett in 2008, combines craft and activism to intervene for social change. Corbett defines it as \u201cgentle activism\u201d, but upends the meaning of gentle, not to mean \u201cpassive or weak, but gentle as in compassionate and nuanced\u201d. <\/p>\n

So, the next time you see someone, quiet, still and with bent head, wielding needle and thread, consider how they might be using incisive and creative tools to make a sophisticated point. <\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re a stitcher, you can try it yourself. Try reimagining traditional patterns or adding bold text or symbols to transform your mindful hobby into a quiet but powerful form of creative expression.<\/p>\n

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org<\/a>. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org<\/a> The Conversation UK may earn a commission.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Helen Pleasance does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fotopogledi\/Shutterstock To pass the time while filming, before her eyesight deteriorated, actor Judi Dench could often be found sewing. The picture of submissive femininity, she sat bent over her needlework. The finished work however, which she gave as gifts, were actually expletive-filled insults worked in ornate embroidery. There has been a resurgence of people taking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}